Fallout 4: New York City
by Sweatyninja88
Summary: The institute is destroyed and the sole survivor is retired. Unfortunately the wasteland isn't done with him just yet. When history repeats itself what will the sole survivor have to do this time around to save everything he loves?
1. Chapter 1: History Repeats Itself

**Chapter 1**

The explosion of the institute flashed across my eyes once more. I blinked quickly and shook the thought from my head. _What's done is done._ I sighed and stepped outside of the Red Rocket truck stop I called home. I plopped down in a chair I left outside and opened the Nuka cola I had brought with me. The hiss of the carbonated drink made me smile as I took a slow sip. Even after all these years Nuka Cola never seemed to lose it's flavor. Dogmeat whined a bit wanting attention as per usual. I scratched him behind his ears to sate his needs. His tail thumped happily. At least someone here was.

My name was Max. I was a fairly tall man. I had long dark brown hair tied in a ponytail. I wore military fatigues mostly with combat armor over that. I was physically fit and had a large scar over my left eye. It had come from a fight with a deathclaw but, that was another story for another day. It had been weeks since my last mission with the Brotherhood of Steel. Maxson was ecstatic with how the raid on the institute went but, I just couldn't do it anymore. He discharged me with honors and I returned to the place I called home.

Suddenly Clara gave me a soft hug from behind. "What are you doing out here baby?" Clara was a slender girl with flowing blonde hair. I had met her while clearing out a ghoul infested building. I found her crying in a small room in the back, a double barrel on the floor next to her, a pile of dead ghouls littering the room. She was always sweet and gracious to others. I courted her shortly after I got to know her. While being both my wife and best friend, all the battles I went through I went through for her.

I looked up at the stars and smiled. "Just needed some fresh air." she giggled "And where exactly are you going to get that?" I chuckled as well after her little comment. "I know you have a lot on your mind but, me and Max Jr. need you." I nodded at this and took another sip of my cola. "I know baby. Just give me time to get past this." She sighed at this. "Alright hun. Just come back to bed soon." as she left I spotted a shaggy head peeking out from the door-frame of the house. I smiled and waved to Max Jr. He giggled and slipped back inside.

Max Jr. was only 6 years old but, he knew a lot about the world he lived in. I made sure to teach him all I could. He knew how to use a gun as well as make a campfire. Even with the difficult training I had him go through he still was the nicest kid. Well behaved and friendly towards anyone. In a couple weeks I'd be sending him to Diamond City to get a real education. I had great hopes for him. Give him the life Shaun never had.

I sat out there for hours. Mulling over all the things I could've done to help stop what had happened. In the end I knew what occurred was inevitable. But my heart always told me otherwise. Eventually I dozed off. The cool night air and the slight sugar rush dying down made my eyelids heavier and heavier, before long being forced shut.

Smelling smoke my first thought in my groggy mind was that Clara had made breakfast. Within seconds I realized that this smoke was too heavy and had a different smell. My eyes shot open to a truly terrifying scene. A fire raged behind me. I could hear cackling and hooting in the distance. I snuck into some nearby bushes. The attackers had obviously not seen me sleeping and I watched carefully before grabbing the .44 I had on me at all times.

I could see two men on the side of my house with molotov cocktails in hand. I continued to scan the area when my eyes widened in surprise. I watched two silhouettes drag Clara and Max Jr. into the street. I screamed in anger and burst out of the bushes. Firing three bullets in the direction of the men burning my house. One dove out of the way, his friend wasn't so lucky. Taking a bullet to the shoulder and chest. He hit the ground hard. The two silhouettes heard this and their heads turned to me. Both pulled out 10mm pistols and aimed them at my family. My arm was extended and ready to blow them away but, I couldn't risk it. Then without warning the man who survived my onslaught came out of hiding and shot twice at me. I had no time to react and I felt the two bullets puncture my stomach and thigh.

Collapsed on the floor I gasped for air. I knew I was done for as I heard footsteps approach me. Through blurred vision I saw a masked man lean over me. His breathing was heavy inside the gas mask he wore. He began to speak to me as I bled out, "You're lucky boss wants you alive. Not sure why but, I gots to follow orders." his arm came down hard, the needle pierced my skin and I felt the relief of a stimpak flow through my body. I Tried to get up but another man brought a bat down onto my face. Everything was dark, my last words before blacking out being, "Not…. again…"


	2. Chapter 2: Mysteries Unfold

**Chapter 2**

Dogmeats lick's brought me back to reality. I felt dried blood under my nose and all over my mouth and chin. I groaned in pain, my nose throbbing and my head woozy. I sat up slowly, the blood rushing to my head making my swollen nose throb even more. "Fuck.." after finally regaining my senses my eyes widened in realization.

I jumped to my feet and bolted to our burned out shell of a house. The ashes had been cool for some time now and I fell to my knees in front of them. My best chance was that they were at the very least breathing whilst in the clutches of the men who had burned my house. I didn't bother to mourn when there was work to be done. As I began to look for clues I heard a soft groan come from my left.

The man was still on the ground. My shots incapacitated him at the very least. At a brisk pace I caught up to him. He had crawled quite a few feet. Probably having passed out a few times. His friends left him for dead. Probably thought his wounds had already killed him. I put my boot down on the exit wound coming from his back. He screamed in agony then did his best to face me from the ground. I'll never forget the twisted bloody smile he gave me.

"Well well well, our distraught hero has finally woken up, what shall I do for you this fi-" I kicked him in the gut. He flinched at the sudden pain, dropping his slick psycho act for a half a second. "Don't bullshit me asshole. I want to know where your friends ran off to. Are they working with the brotherhood of steel? Why did you come after me? Why did you take my family? ANSWER ME!" after patiently waiting for me to cool down, that fucking twisted smile still plastered on his face, he finally began to answer me.

"You done there cowboy? Yeah? Good. First off why would we be with the BOS? Fuck those guys. Second off all I can tell you is this. We were sent here to fuck with you. We were paid to take your whore wife and-" I kicked him in the face once more. He chuckled at this and spit out some blood before continuing "Sorry, taking your pleasant wife and darling child was our objective. You were to be left alive and here. Why? Fuck if I know. Seemed pretty stupid to me. But, I mean there was only one casualty so I guess it worked out."

"You forgot one asshole. Where did you take them." he glared at me, his smile never fading for an instant "I was getting to that. The guy said that you were to find him in New York City. Meet him in Central Park two months time. Says you'll know where to find him. And that, my friend, is all I have to say."

We stare at each other for a few moments before I sigh and sit down next to him. "What you ain't gonna kill me? Don't tell me you pussied out on me." I laughed and leaned back onto my hands. "Y'know I've met a lot of scumbags in the commonwealth. Psycho's, Muties, Robots, thieves, rapists, and,cannibals. Not a one of them has treated death like you have. Like such a slight nuisance. What's your name man?" he coughed up a bit more blood before answering. "Name's Jonah. My friends call me Mr. Blonde though." I nodded. "I like Jonah better." I exclaim before pulling out my .44 and putting a bullet between his eyes.

Seeing Diamond City again brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad. On the way inside I spotted my favorite Diamond City guard. "James, is Valentine around?" James gave me a quick smile, which disappeared very soon after seeing my face. "Hey Ma- dude what happened to your face?" I raised a hand to silence him. "James I got a lot of shit going on and I need to see Valentine ASAP." He nodded solemnly, figuring out that I had a bad situation on my hands. "Yeah Nick's here, over in his office. If you find the time tell me what happened though man." I gave him a slight nod and a reassuring smile before hurrying off to meet Nick Valentine.

I burst through Valentine's Detective Agencies door. Nick whipped around, his classic pipe revolver in hand. He lowered it immediately after recognizing me. "Max what the hell why did you just- what in god's name happened to your face?" I placed a hand on Nick's shoulder looked into his eyes and exclaimed. "It's happening again." it didn't take him long to figure out what I meant. "Is Clara…" I shook my head "They took her too." He breathed a sigh of relief. "At least it's somewhat better than last time."

"So what do you know?" Nick asked watching me closely while waiting for an answer. I told Nick exactly what Jonah had told me. "I see" Nick finished writing down his notes before looking up and asking me one last question. "How do you know all this." I stared at him blank faced, "One of their mercs told me before I killed him." He nodded. "Well seems we got a lot to work with. Seeing that he wanted you alive this must mean he has an agenda. He's doing all this for a reason. Leaving you alive, kidnapping your family, setting up a meeting. It all points to him having an ulterior motive. What it is I have no idea. This man was smart enough to leave out anything incriminating. Take me to the merc's-" "The merc is named Jonah, people call him Mr. Blonde though." Nick sat up immediately after I mentioned the Name 'Mr. Blonde' with that I knew we had our first lead.


	3. Chapter 3: Gearing Up

**Chapter 3**

"This Mr. Blonde guy, this isn't the first time I've heard of him. Him and those guys he ran with did they seem raider like?" I nodded, "They seemed to have an air of chaos about them." "Just as I thought, those guys are tougher than they seem. I had a case a while back, someone was killed, quick and clean, but a lot of people reported seeing raiders leave the scene. It baffled me, Raiders being so short and to the point. No Commonwealth, albeit any, Raider group could possibly pull something off like that. After a little sniffing around and a few bruised faces left behind I learned the names of this fake raider gang. Obviously aliases and this Mr. Blonde was one of them."

Patiently listening to Nick's theory I nodded along to everything. It made sense, the MO, why they talked about a boss. They were obviously pro's, using the guise of common criminals to hide their true motif. They were mercenaries that knew how to blend in. "Let's take a look at the wreckage, if you're up for it…" I gave Nick a slight nod and he nodded back. I said a light goodbye to Sophie and left the agency, Nick trailing behind me.

I stared solemnly at my homes resting place. Nick crouched over the body of Jonah, shaking his head before flipping the body onto its back and checking his pockets. After a few minutes of patting down the deceased man Nick called me over, "I think you'll wanna see this Max." I Hurried over to the detective, taking the piece of paper he held out to me as I reached him."What's this?" "A note from their boss, give it a read."

Dear Mr. Max,

You don't know me but I most definetly know you. Now I'm sure you've killed at least one of those mercenaries I sent your way. I figured you'd underestimate them but, with your skill sets I'm sure you'd figure it out. Now down to business. I have your wife and child, alive I hope, I wouldn't want to hurt a hair on either of their pretty little heads, unless need be.

Of course you must be asking "Why in all that is holy did this asshole send mercs to steal my family from me again?" well Mr. Max all your questions will be answered in good time. I will give you this though. You did something very similar to me. And I have not forgotten and never will forget.

So to finish this up I will give you two months time to make it to New York City, a.k.a the big apple. I'm sure you've heard of it yes? Meet me at central park and we'll talk terms on how you'llget your precious family back once more.

Now don't expect pity from me like you got originally at that nut house the institute. You don't get second chances in my game. So let's play ball.

Yours Truly,

A.M.

I closed my fist around the letter. My hands shook with fury, Nick knelt next to the body, looking at me sorrowfully. "Max, it's obviously a trap but, we need to go either way." I shake my head. "No Nick, I won't take you. I need you to stay here. Find any clues that could help us learn anything. Ask around if anybody saw where these guys were staying. Find out who AM is, I need you here man." I held out my hand to him to help him up. He sighed "Alright Max, I trust you on this but, find someone to help you on this." he took my hand and i pulled him to his feet.

Dogmeat panted heavily, the sun's rays beat down on us. Whether the world was engulfed in nuclear fire or not the sun wouldn't be going anywhere. I knelt down next to the mutt and poured some purified water into my hand. He lapped it up graciously. At least the bastards didn't get him. We continued onwards for a while before we finally reached it. The place was an old army base. The commonwealth was littered with these but, this one meant a little bit more to me. This was where i put a bullet in Kellog, the last asshole that crossed me and my family. Instinctively my hand went to my pocket, i played with the two golden rings for a couple seconds before heading inside.

The lights blinked on as the rusty door squeaked open. Dust had settled all throughout the old building. I waltzed down the hallway, my mind focused on how I would break each and every bone of the men that took my wife and child. I stopped next to the terminal that opened the adjacent doors. After opening them and i slowly stepped into my armory. I breathed in the musk of dust and metal and felt a rush of nostalgia flow over me. I took a few steps to my right and stopped in front of the old suit of power I knew and loved.

T-60 power armor, a somewhat rare artifact in the commonwealth. I had held onto it for quite some time, used it many times over whilst in the BOS. Even when they offered me a new one I never gave up my first one. Rusted to all hell, bullet holes every here and there, and a little stickfigure family drawn on by my son a couple years back when I decided to show him this place. I smiled as I remembered the day, I shook myself back to reality before I could fall into the realm of fantasy. I stood behind the armor and twisted the wheel to open up the old thing. It hissed open and I slowly crawled inside. The padding I had put inside, made of yao guai bear fur, made it as comfortable as it had always been. I sighed and continued to get what I had come here for.

I admired my wall of weapons as I always did when I came here. I then grabbed a nearby duffel bag and began filling it with my weapons of choice. I started with the cryolator, a favorite of mine, following that up with the deliverer, then the limitless potential laser rifle, next a Maxed out sniper rifle, after that I grabbed my automatic assault rifle, and finishing it up with my combat shotgun. I also threw in some molotov cocktails, frag grenades, and frag mines.

I sighed before zipping up the duffel bag filled with deadly weaponry. I had hoped this was over. The killing and fighting. The lifestyle of danger and hatred. I had wished for it all to stop. Yet even with that in mind I still kept this place around. I chuckled, I would never let my true nature go. Both before and after the bombs, my life only entailed one thing, death. I heaved the bag over my shoulder and began to head out, dogmeat trotting happily at my feet.


	4. Chapter 4: Companion

**Chapter 4**

I stopped at the large hole that was once called the institute. I stared into it, remembering the quote "Stare into the abyss and the abyss stares back at you." I felt the large dark hole envelope my thoughts. I sighed and trudged away, dogmeat sensing my misery whined for my attention. I cracked a smile, damn dog always knew what brought me back to reality.

Back on track, I began to rummage through my bag. Pushing different guns out of the way I finally found the old map I used from time to time. I did my best not to rip it as I opened it up. I laid it on a nearby intact table and began to study it. I pulled out a pen and crossed out the area of Sherborn. He figured that the crater of atom the was just south of Cochituate was probably what used to be Sherborn.

Considering how the glowing sea stretched north, passing just west of Natick, it must only be prominent in the surrounding area. That meant I would have to pass through the glowing sea quickly if I were to get anywhere near my destination of New York City. Fortunately I had plenty of extra Power Armor suits from all over the commonwealth. This brought me to my next issue. I had to take someone with me on this treacherous journey. I needed fresh eyes as taking any of my other past companions just wouldn't seem right. After what I had already put them through this seemed to be just too much. I decided to start at a good place to find 'friends' willing to do anything for you, as long as it paid well.

I reached the bottom of the stairs of The Third Rail and took a seat at the bar. Whitechapel Charlie hovered over to me and placed a glass of bourbon before me. "Thanks Charlie." "Don't mention it. I'd heard about what happened to Clara, tis a shame." I raised my glass to him and took a sip. "So Charlie, any new Merc's around here needing cash?" Charlie gave me a hardy chuckle. "Plenty Max! Just ask around, won't be long till you find what suits your needs." I grinned at Charlie and nodded. "Thanks again." I stood up leaving a couple caps for the bourbon and began asking around.

Even with the 5000 caps I was offering. As well as the reassurance of the power armor I had available, none of the mercenaries accepted my offer. Probably didn't want to leave the area. A lot of these guys seemed local and had some sort of life here. After a good hour or two of asking around things seemed hopeless. I had just about given up when a lanky man sauntered over to me.

"Hear that you're offering 5 big ones for a companion to a place called 'New York'?" I nodded. "Yeah I am. Think you got what it takes?" He smirked and said "I know I do, but I'm gonna need a lot more to persuade me to go." I chuckled "Very well name your price." "20 big ones and I get to keep the power armor." without hesitation I blurted out "Deal." He seemed a bit surprised at how quick of an answer I gave him. "I didn't think anyone would take just 5 grand for a job like this. And I got caps to spare." He nodded slowly "Well then. Good to know let's ge-" I placed a hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "If you think you can just screw me over and run before this is over you got another thing coming." he grabbed my hand by the wrist and pulled it off his chest. "I don't roll that way. I stick to my clients till the bitter end." I smiled and held out my hand to him. "Welcome aboard then." With a smirk back on his face he took my hand and gave me a firm handshake.

With a panting dog on my left and Scruffy merc on my right I walked through the bleak streets of the commonwealth. Suddenly a very important question for my new companion crossed my mind. "Shit I can't believe I almost forgot. What's your name?" he kept looking forward and walking onwards, "Dan Hendricks, what about you cap'n?" "My name's Max." he turned slightly towards me. "No last name?" I gave him a strained grin. "Just max. Sole Survivor to many but, I prefer Max." "Alrighty then, Max it is."

"Y'know I've heard a lot of stories about some dude known as the 'Sole Survivor'." said Dan as walked, I raised an eyebrow "Oh really? What kinds of stories." he placed his hand on his chin as he remembered the tales. "Something about a guy that is damn near superhuman. He wandered the commonwealth helping out anybody he could, establishing settlements left and right. But those were years ago." Dan kept smiling"Do you believe 'em?" he looked at me "We'll see." and with that we continued our trek to my hq.

As we entered my hq his smirk never faded. He didn't even blink as we stepped into the main room of my armory, the walls lined with multitudes of weapons. He whistled admiringly and exclaimed "I expected nothing less from a guy paying 20,0000 caps and some power armor just to get from point A to point B." I shrugged, "I've been around." he chuckled "Seems like it." "You can grab some ammo if you like, and if you see something else you like just ask." "Thanks but, I'm happy with what I got." "Alright, let's get you some power armor then."

The clacking of the keys echoed throughout the facility as I put in a passcode to a terminal. Once finished I hit enter and the lock to the adjacent door clicked open. I pulled it open, rays of sunlight hitting both our faces. The door led to the fenced off backyard of the extensive facility. Underneath a metal awning was my collection of Power armor suits. Some had full sets of all the right armor. Others were mismatched and missing pieces. Some were just Power armor bases, no armor to go along with it. I brought dan over to the area with full sets. I had a few T-45's as well as a couple raider sets. His eyes were set upon my lone set of T-51. "Good eye, that's the T-51 model. It's the model below the one I usually use." Dan nodded along as I fed him information, explaining how to put it on and the controls and gauges. Once my explanation was over he opened up his armor and hopped in with ease. "You're a natural man." he gave me a large metallic thumbs up. "Nothing I can't handle."

Of course the guy hadn't operated something like this ever before in his lifetime. Once he tried to walk he immediately fell over and I could sense his frustration and worry. "UH this thing doesn't seem to work…." I burst into laughter. "Fuck I'm sorry man but the power cell must've died on you, gimme a second." I jogged over to a large trunk, I opened it up and grabbed a power cell, I ran back to my immobilized friend and replaced the dead cell with a new one. A couple seconds passed before the power surged throughout his armor. He scrambled back to his feet, my eyes still a bit watery from laughing too hard. I heard him grumble a bit underneath his breath inside his helmet. I ignored it as it was probably a few obscenities targeted towards me, rightfully deserved as well. I had a feeling things would work out for me and my companion.

 **Author's Note**

Well howdy guys! I decided to continue working on this bad boy because why the hell not. After rereading what I had I felt it wasn't too bad and figured it would be a good way to get back on track with my writing. I don't exactly remember where I was planning on taking the story so it might not go exactly the way I had in mind but, I promise the quality level will not drop! So hope you enjoyed it so far. I also replaced this chapter because I didn't like the way it turned out before. I kept a few paragraphs but, changed the second half completely. There will be more to come don't y'all worry.


	5. Chapter 5: Final Preparations

**Chapter 5**

The next day me and Dan head over to The Fens to talk with Nick once more. We exit our armor at the entrance and are greeted by my favorite guard, James. "Hey Max, glad to see you're doing alright. Nick filled me in on what happened… if you want maybe I can jo-" he stops mid sentence as he sees Dan standing a few feet behind me. I rub the back of my neck and avoid his gaze. "Yeah… sorry James. I don't want you risking anything just for me. I appreciate the offer though." James looks disappointed so I place my hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me, like a dog begging for a piece of meat. "Stay here, protect Nick incase anybody tries to get to him. When I get back we'll sit down, have a beer and noodles, and talk about my ventures." He nodded, "Got it boss." I patted his back and walked towards Valentine's place.

Nick was leaning on a wall just outside of his agency. "Been waiting for you Maxxy." "Yeah well there isn't a lot of people willing to go to New York City these days." Nick chuckled "If it's even still there. So who's the new friend?" Nick asked eyeing Dan. Dan sauntered up to Nick and held out his hand. "Name's Dan Hendricks. Nice to meet ya mister Valentine. I've heard quite a bit about you." Nick's gaze hardened a bit at Dan's name. "And I you Mister Hendricks…. Let's head inside." He held the door open for Dan who walked right in, as I followed Nick blocked my path, "This guy has bad history Max. He's been put away for quite a fe-" I held up my hand to silence him. "I don't wanna hear it. I got good vibes from this guy. And you and I aren't the cleanest men around neither." he opened his mouth to say something in protest but, decided against it. "You can't trust anybody in the wasteland Max, especially those you just met." I sighed and walked past Nick into the agency.

Me and Dan stood at the entrance as Nick brushed past us to his desk. On it sat a few maps, a folder, a pile of photos and an old pencil. "So here's what I got for you boys." announced Nick. "I managed to scrounge up a couple pre-war maps for ya of the New England and Eastern Commonwealth's. I marked a few routes you guys can take as well as a couple detours you'll need to make. I also got some holodisks that you can upload to your pip-boy to extend your maps to match the ones I got here on the desk." I raised an eyebrow "Detours? Nick we aren't making any-" Nick interrupted "Let me explain Max." He picked up the folder and slid it towards me. I stepped forward and picked it up. Inside was information on a man named Antoine Hindqvist. "Who's this dirtbag?" Nick chuckled "That dirtbag is the leader of a Psycho and Jet drug ring that supplies both the commonwealth and the NYC Wasteland. He seems to have tight ties with these green berets, aka the guys that led the attack on your place Max."

I was blown away by Nick's police work. Even after all I'd seen him pull off he never ceased to amaze. "How did you find out about these guys?" "Well I'd heard the name Mr. Blonde before, just didn't know where. I asked around and found an old merc who'd had a couple run ins with him, he told me about the green berets and it all came back to me. I'd made the connection before when I was still roaming the commonwealth. I didn't make any moves on them because I didn't have any back-up or evidence to really give me enough motivation back then. Seems I got plenty of motivation now considering the circumstances." me and Nick gave each other one last nod before I collected all Nick's findings and headed out. As I was leaving I heard Nick call out to me, "Oh and one last thing. The merc I told you about, her name is Lucy Eversett, you can find her in the Natick Mall, just outside the outskirts of The commonwealth. Just head west from Cochituate Lake and you'll find it." I nodded. "Got it, thanks Nick, stay safe out here." he laughed, "When haven't I been able to handle myself huh?" he waved me off before heading back inside his agency.

Once outside The Fens Dan turned to me, "I heard what he said about me." I kept a straight face as he mentioned this. "And? Like I said I'm not clean either so it's fine." He nodded. "Alright then, don't say I didn't warn you." we continued forward in silence as we walked through the commonwealth for one last time before heading out for our long journey.

 **Author's Note**

Hello once again guys! I know this chapter is sort of short but, trust me I've been working feverishly to get back on track. I've been looking at maps and the fallout wiki to make sure I got everything right, so I don't get any lore wrong before creating some of my own. It took me a while to find something on both the real world and fallout map that matched, what I found was Lake Cochituate. I have a whole route mapped out that maps out their basic path. I'm still looking at all the towns and buildings along the way to figure out what i'm going to put where. I also need to think up some of my own new monsters for them to face. Also glad to see that this was so well received after so long. So thanks for reading and be prepared for a lot more to come!


	6. Chapter 6: Coming Round the Mountain

**Chapter 6**

It took half a day just to reach Lake Cochituate, or at least what was left of it. I remember taking Shaun and Nora here to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature. The lake was much smaller than what it was before the war. It now looked like a pitiful mud puddle after a bad storm than a "Lake". Even so the memories of a time before still flooded my mind. I sighed and pressed on.

Dan and I stood before the rubble that used to be the Massachusetts Turnpike. I could have lived with at least a small bit of tunnel left to traverse but, it was completely cut off. It wasn't much of a surprise considering the nukes were quite powerful, and the tunnel wasn't built to withstand that kind of power. "Well seems we're gonna have to go around." exclaimed Dan. I nodded and took a look at the map and our detour routes. The closest one was just south of our position. "Gonna have to get around this hill. Probably gonna go along the edge." I explained. "Yeah it'll be a pain, but we can probably manage it."

Once we stumbled down off of what was left of the Turnpike we quickly found the small trail that would get us around the hill. There wasn't much to say about it, a common hiking trail, probably used by caravans to get into the commonwealth. "So long commonwealth." I muttered under my breath as I took my first steps outside of my hometown.

The path became very rugged very fast. There were ledges barely big enough to get across with our backs to the hill. It was treacherous to say the least. "How the hell do Caravans maneuver this?" "I don't think they use this path anymore…" I answered. We both breathed a sigh of relief once over the tight ledge that could've led to our deaths. But this path had plenty more in store for us.

Of course I knew this area had a large amount of mongrels throughout it. What caught me off guard was the falling ghouls. THey must've accumulated at the top of the hill, waiting for passerbys. Then once they saw us below, they dove headfirst for their prey. If we weren't in power armor I'm sure that one of them would have take us down the hill with them. We usually managed to handle their falling bodies, considering how limp and light they were it didn't take much to deflect them. But even so, every once in awhile we would stumble under the sheer force of their descent, usually due to one of them landing a solid hit on us. This only lasted during our time while passing by one of the steepest parts of the hill.

As the sun began to set we came upon a clearing. We nearly sprinted ahead to get out of this frustrating path. What we saw both frightened and intrigued us. A large building, mostly intact but some parts had caved in, stood before us. The sign over it's doors was rusted and falling apart, but any missing letters were replaced by spray paint. It read "NATICK MALL". Our first waypoint in our long journey.

We approached the building cautiously, my .44 at the ready and Dan with a machete in hand. Dan took point and I took up the rear. We crossed the vast parking lot slowly as night had already begun to fall and any mutants that dwell at this hour were bound to be lurking in the shadows. Once we were near the front doors of the mall we huddled behind a nearby car husk. "How do you want to do this?" I asked Dan, from what I could tell the mall was completely empty. Its front doors were boarded up haphazardly, there were no lights on inside and Nothing of any worth stood out. Made sense that a merc would hole up here. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a place like the The Third Rail could be found in the bowels of this massive place.

"Let's just head inside, I'll go first you can follow me from about 20 feet behind. That'll give us a chance to take any ambushers by surprise, so if I get attacked you can jump in after me." his plan seemed solid, ambush the ambusher. "Alright, sounds good to me." He readied his machete, and I my magnum. On the count of three dan popped out from behind cover, I held my gun at the ready scanning the windows for any possible bogeys. Dan strode forward, and once he was a step or two away from the car a row of bright spotlights flashed on. We both put our hands in front of our faces to save our retinas from burning out. A couple seconds later we heard a voice call out from inside the building.

"Who the hell are you guys?" asked the angry female voice. It had a slight british accent surprisingly enough. I had stood up by now hands up and finger off the trigger of my gun. "Are you Lucy Eversett?" "Who's asking?" she immediately retorted. "I'm Max, the guy with the machete is Dan. We were sent by Nick Valentine." "Nick Valentine? Well why didn't you say so?" The spotlights dimmed and the front doors burst open.

Now this lady was something else. She had on a dark red, velvet dress, with black lace stitched into the hems. Her breasts weren't pronounced but, her trunk was surely something to marvel. She wore a matching velvet hat with black lace going around the brim. She had on white gloves and wore a belt with shotgun shells hanging from it. On her back were two different shotguns. One was a classic double barrel, nothing special looking but no doubt her go to. The other was something I hadn't seen since my days in the military. It was an M1014 military grade shotgun. It was damn near pristine and was probably one she tried her best not to use frequently. I had to speak up, "Where in gods name did you get that gun?" "Oh this?" she asked innocently while glancing at the beastly gun, "Got lucky while raiding a military convoy that I found on the Turnpike. Somehow the raiders never got inside of it and with my lock-picking skills I got my lovely reward." I wasn't buying it. That gun was rare to see even on the battlefield, there was no doubt in my mind that she was lying to me.

"Well seems we're all friendly here then. Are you the only one that dwells in here?" She nodded. "Of course I only live in a small part of this place. The south side of this place is infested with deathclaws, ghouls, and anything else you can think of. It keeps most uninvited guests very far away from my little abode." I wasn't sure if she was crazy or brilliant. What I did know is that she had something to hide, just like everybody else in the wastelands. She held the door open, motioning for us to enter her 'abode', we begrudgingly entered.


	7. Chapter 7: Ask and Task

**Chapter 7**

The mall, being as vast as it is, felt even larger, since it was stripped many times over by scavs. Lucy led us to a nearby storefront, an old furniture store from what I could tell. It was as dusty and in disrepair as the rest of the mall but, Lucy managed to scrounge enough stuff to create a very fancy living space for herself.

"It must be a bit lonely living in such a large and empty place." I exclaim as I sit at her dinner table with Dan. "At first it was yes but, I get plenty of visitors that I'm usually kept entertained." I raised an eyebrow "If you get so many visitors why so hostile towards us?" "Well most of them don't try to sneak in." I I sat back and chuckled "You got me there." She looked up at me, "So why has our mutual friends Mr. Valentine sent you my way?"

"Well long story short my family got taken from me… again. We believe the culprits took them this way and that you might be able to help me." she then turned towards Dan "And what do you have to do with this?" he shrugged "I'm just the escort." she nodded. "So where do you think they were headed?" "The note they left me says New York City is their final destination." she sat forward, a bit of shock could be seen in her eyes. "Don't tell me…" I nodded, it seemed .she had had her own run ins with the green berets. "Yes, the green berets, the same people you got that shotgun from."

She sat back and raised her arms in surrender in a sarcastic manner. "You got me. I'm ex beret. Eversett is just a cover, Lena Miller is my real name. The only reason I'm not with the assholes that took your family is Nick Valentine. Hence the reason I haven't killed either of you yet." I smirked, "That's not exactly an easy accomplishment." she raised an eyebrow and snapped her fingers.

The lights went out for mere seconds, once on again Lucy had disappeared, I heard her whistle from my left and I tried to turn towards her. My nose was met with the cold barrel of her M1014. I pushed the barrel gently away from my face. "Point taken. Now it seems that Nick has a lot of trust in you so I will too, to an extent." she placed the shotgun over her shoulder a confident smirk on her face. "Likewise, I'll tell you what I know of the berets but, you're gonna need to help me out first. Being friends with Nick can only get you so far."

I groaned, I'd been in the commonwealth long enough to know where this was going. "What do you need then?" I asked with disdain. "Well Mr. Grumpy, I need you to get something for me in the mall." I let out an exhausted groan. After years in the wasteland my only nickname was no longer sole survivor. I also went by Taskmaster, given to me due to my constant influx of odd jobs. At first it seemed necessary to do these, help my fellow survivors, make the post apocalyptic world just a slightly better place. Of course they got tedious very quickly, it also made things like this inevitable for me.

"Alright so what exactly do you need?" she frowned and let out a long sigh, "Your sneakiness wasn't the only reason for my hostility." she exclaimed. "I'd had quite a few squatters take refuge in the lower parts of the mall, usually i wouldn't mind but, the latest one has taken a necklace of mine. They seem to be holed up in the basement, trapped by a large horde of feral ghouls. I need you to get to them before the ghouls move on and get back my necklace."

The whole ordeal seemed shady to me. While it seemed like a quick smash and grab the way it happened seemed too obvious. "How did you let a squatter nab a necklace that means oh so much to you?" she frowned at this. "Questioning me eh? You have every right, it pains me but, I understand. I lost it in a hold up. They were quiet and quick, more so than either of you, and I didn't even get the chance to flinch before they were already dashing away with my necklace." I nodded, still skeptical internally but, Lena had no need to know that. "Alright fine. We'll do what we can but, I expect full cooperation when I get back." She smirked at me "But of course."

Turns out the squatter was without a doubt in a tough spot. Lena had given us a map of the mall she had drawn up herself. It was highly detailed, outlining the the territories of each possible enemy. Her warnings of the many dangers in the mall was no joke. She had gone to great lengths to draw out a near perfect map of the mall.

There were a great many more things in the building than I had anticipated. Though most of the major threats were not within our direct route. In the southeastern part of the building was a Super Mutant stronghold. They had holed up in a couple of fitness facilities and sportswear shops. There were also some electronic appliance stores being held by rogue synths scattered around the mall. Our target was hiding in an old toy store on the second floor. Our only way up was a set of stairs right outside one of the synth held stores.

The entirety of the second floor of the mall is infested with ghouls. Most were just people that had perished immediately following the mushroom wars. They had decided the sturdiest building nearby was this mall and hid there. Obviously their plan backfired.

Me and Dan mulled over the map for most of the next morning. Going over routes in between bites of mole rat jerky. Most stairways in the place had either crumbled away or got blocked by debris. The only one Lena knew was still operational was the one inside an old RobCo storefront. Of course this was one of the places being held by a group of rogue synths.

If what Lena had told us was true then the amount of ghouls on the second floor was nothing to laugh about. They were supposed to be hanging from the rafters up there. We had a couple ideas to make our way through them but, both were going to be difficult.

Our final decision was a mix of stealth and pure force. The details were to be figured out during execution so we kind of just went in blind. The RobCo storefront would need to be handled quietly. We didn't want the ghouls getting rowdy on us, at least not until we were ready. I had my deliverer for times like this. Dan of course was going to be our recon and sniper for this one. Once the synths were out of the way we'd set up a makeshift barricade, set up behind it, and get ready for hell.

We travelled there in our power armor suits. We left those in the store across the way from the RobCo. I hid behind an old plant pot while dan used the checkout counter for cover and balance as he got the synths in sight. They had 2 guarding the front doors, both with standard institute laser rifles. Inside he could make out about half a dozen more all doing various things. There was probably a few more out of sight.

I signaled to dan to count down to 10 while I got in position for synchronized assassination. Once he hit 0 we'd both take out our targets in tandem. He started his countdown as I dashed forward. I I made my way towards a large barricade in the middle of the large hallway that ran throughout the mall. My count was at 5 when I reached it. I glanced over it and checked my distance. It seemed about right but I could probably push a bit just to make sure. As his count hit 3 I slowly crept out from behind the barricade, 3….2….1… Fire! I heard the _p-chew_ of dan's silenced sniper while I emptied a few rounds into the skull of my synth. Both went down without a synch, that was the easy part.

I pressed myself against the doorway to the store and stayed in cover, I stood over the synths body, its head a mess of wirey carnage. I peeked around the edge of the doorframe. It was a pretty normal looking storefront. There were a few on each side, they seemed to be scavenging for parts. I could hear some more noise in the back as well as above us. We hadn't taken into account the store above, since we expected it to be overrun with ghouls just like the rest of the second floor. Either way we still had to do this as quietly as possible.

My deliverer was held at the ready in wait for any possible bogeys that wandered too close. I slowly holstered my deliverer and pulled out my shock baton. One good blow to the head should fry their circuits. I took a couple deep breaths. This wasn't going to be an easy one. I had to move fast, take out the ones on the left and draw the ones on the right into Dan's sights. Once I felt ready I flew towards the synths on the left side of the shop.

The baton landed a clean hit on the first synths temple. His plastic skull shattered and crumpled inwards, the electric shock destroying vital systems. This was all before the other two could even react. I shoved the second one forward, giving him a faceful of rusted robot parts. The third reached for his blaster but, I kicked it out of his hands before bringing the baton down hard on the top of his head. As he fell back i heard my baton crackle, my eyes widened and I threw it away towards the second synth i had incapacitated. As he regained his composure he was then met with a small explosion.

Unfortunately,I wasn't far enough away to be left unaffected. I stumbled onto the third synths twitching body. The blast had definitely burned most of my abdomen as well as parts of my chest and right hand. The second synth had the better part of his face. He was still functional though as he slowly got on his feet. His hand trembled mechanically as he reached for his own laser pistol. I tried to stand up but, my wounds kept me down. I didn't think I'd go down like this.


End file.
